Did Sarah Palin Predict Current Ukraine Trouble?

Sarah Palin warned in 2008 that if Obama were elected, Putin would be encouraged to invade Ukraine. At the time, she was mocked.

By Elad Benari

First Publish: 3/2/2014, 5:16 AM

Sarah Palin

Reuters

Did former Republican Vice Presidential candidate Sarah Palin predict six years ago the current situation in Ukraine? It appears as though she did.

On Friday, hours before Russia’s parliament gave President Vladimir Putin the formal go ahead to send forces to Ukraine, the Breitbart website reminded those who may have forgotten that during the 2008 presidential campaign, Palin warned that if then-Senator Barack Obama were elected president, his "indecision" and "moral equivalence" may encourage Russia's Vladimir Putin to invade Ukraine.

“After the Russian Army invaded the nation of Georgia, Senator Obama's reaction was one of indecision and moral equivalence, the kind of response that would only encourage Russia's Putin to invade Ukraine next,” Palin said at the time.

Breitbart further noted that Palin was mocked over those comments by the Foreign Policy magazine and its editor Blake Hounshell, who now is one of the editors of Politico magazine.

Hounshell wrote then that Palin's comments were "strange" and "this is an extremely far-fetched scenario."

"And given how Russia has been able to unsettle Ukraine's pro-Western government without firing a shot, I don't see why violence would be necessary to bring Kiev to heel," Hounshell wrote at the time.

Palin made her remarks after Obama's running mate Joe Biden warned Obama supporters to "gird your loins" if Obama is elected because international leaders may test or try to take advantage of him.

In the 2012 election race, Obama’ Republican rival Mitt Romney was mocked over similar comments he made about Russia.

At the time, Romney strongly attacked the Obama administration's "reset policy" with Russia. Obama later mocked his rival during the third presidential debate and said, “I'm glad that you recognize that Al-Qaeda's a threat because a few months ago when you were asked, what's the biggest geopolitical threat facing America, you said Russia -- not Al-Qaeda, you said Russia. And the 1980s are now calling to ask for their foreign policy back because, you know, the Cold War's been over for 20 years.”